PMC, Memorial Weekend, and a flying bicycle
The super sweet airbnb, we were the first guest staying here and it offered great views on the Pine Mountaint Club valley
To celebrate our four year anniversary, Mia and I drove up to Pine Mountain Club and spent a day up there. It's a small town with mostly vacation homes, up in the mountains south of the grapevine. These are the mountains that sometimes get snow on them and close down highway 5 between LA and the California central valley. The weekend before we arrived it snowed about a foot, we could see all the photos on instagram and the place looked like a winter wonderland. When we were there it was in the high 70's and seemed like all the bugs were out trying to do their spring nature thing. On Saturday morning we drove into the town where an annual Lilac Festival was going on - some art and clothing vendors in tents, fair stuff, and live music. But we were taking cover from the flying bugs and even had to flick them off on another. It felt like a scary movie scene. The rest of the trip was fun but we mostly stayed safe inside and trying to keep the bugs from crawling in through cracks in the windows and doors. I had envisioned something else I guess.
Smokey Bear showed up to the Lilac Festival and wildlife was all around the house.
I got Mia a stove top pizza pan that bakes pizzas in 5 minutes, so we gave it a try with handmade pizza. It takes some trials, this picture is actually of a pre-made oven pizza we bought as a backup. You can also see my camera just before it fell over. The bugs swarmed to my truck, I'm pretty sure some are still in there.
On this trip, I was using my old film camera on a new tripod that Mia gave me to try to get a self-timer shot of us on the front porch (when the wind calmed down less bugs were making their way to that side of the house, so we went outside for a minute). I set the camera timer and ran across the wood deck, apparently stomping enough to knock the camera tripod over and then the camera's light meter stopped working. I was bummed out, Mia was getting attacked by flying pincher bugs. I impulsively ordered a used one on eBay right away. It was listed as "Excellent ++++" conditon and shipping in from Japan. In the meantime I did some internet forum research for my malfunction, took a few camera pieces apart and bent one, now it seems to be working (thanks internet). The replacement camera arrived from Japan two weeks later and it's in not even in good condition, it has some dirt and the back feels loose. I requested a return but they refunded me and said to keep it anyway. I've gone a little mad, I dug out a 10 year old Sony digital point and shoot just to see it that's a better alternative to the film. Of course, the pictures aren't as good as manual focus on a film camera, but it's instantaneous. So I now have 2 clunky, 20-40 year old manual film cameras, 3 lenses between them, and an almost obsolete decade-old point and shoot.
I've been eyeing a new mirrorless camera but it's hard to justify the price for just a few blog and instagram photos...I think. We'll see. On the mirrorless camera side of the argument, I mailed in two rolls of film (the past two months of activities) and USPS lost the package in the mail. So the money for the film and developing as well as the two months of 72 photos is just gone. Whereas 72 photos is just ordinary memory card space on a digital camera which would instantly produce the picture and transfer it to my phone. There's a reason everything has become digital, but I want to make sure I wouldn't be buying a digital camera to look like or try to be a good photographer, I need to convince myself that it's a worthwhile investment and that having all these better and more convenient photos produces some value somewhere.
The drunk kid who bit it trying to run a red light. Some other photos I took.
One night I was waiting at a red-light right-turn along the horribly designed street and bike lane in the harbor. The bike path is parallel to the road and they have their own street lights because they must be stopped to allow me to turn right. Safety first. A group of drunk younger people were biking and skateboarding through the intersection when the light went yellow to red. One kid having yet to cross was speeding up and pedaling as fast as he could to run the red light and catch up to his friends ahead. You know how bikes sway back and forth when people pedal really hard? His swayed too far, he lost control and went over the handlebars, face first into the ground. As he smacked the pavement and tumbled the bike was kicked out my direction and hit my truck, So the kid lays there lifeless for a few seconds as I get out and his other friends turn around and come back to help him up. Of course, the reputation of this dangerous street and bike path was leading everyone else to believe that I somehow hit the drunk cyclist. The commuter cyclists in their spandex were coming from all directions, voices raised and red-faced at me, until they realized this was just the sole fault of a tourist on a rental bike who made a drunken miscalculation. Eventually we called 911 and I was able to continue the 100 more yards to get home. I'm thankful for having that grille guard on my truck because it stopped the bike from denting things and all that was left is some rubber friction mark from the bike tire.
I took the top photo on Mia's DSLR and Mia's friend Alex captured the bottom photos on her *shiny new mirrorless camera*
For Memorial Weekend Mia and I went back up to SLO to help puppy-sit and hang out. I was on the fence about whether to spend the three day weekend doing boat work but a relaxing weekend with people always sounds better than dirty clothes, bloody hands, too many trips to West Marine and a sore back. That'll be in a few weeks from now.
The weekend puppy-watch reminds me that having a puppy is a full-time responsibility. Rosie is learning her surroundings and limitations by trying to eat everything in sight.